Dante: A character belonging to the incredibly talented DemonDreamer here at the VCL. He's sort of a bison/buffalo-dragon mix, with what seemed to be a bit of hyena thrown in. I exaggerated the wide-set, bison like eyes on purpose. Pencil on cardstock, Photoshop tones added.

Dark Dragoness! This is Psycrowe's magnificent Dragoness character - her Furry (and other) dragons are simply incredible, but I'm sure you know that already! DD's copyright to Adelle Crowe AKA Psycrowe. Hope I did her justice! Another one I forgot to upload....

/2001, pencil (as usual). An assortment of canine/lupine paws done by request for Zee; there's an anthro-dingo head, too. I draw hands and paws on anthropomorphic animals lots of different ways; variety is the spice of life. :)

Dire Consequences (Sabretooth & Dire Wolf): 1995, various pens. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE wolves, but at the time I drew this, it meant something...

Obviously this has nothing to do with other people's dire wolves or characters, as I did this in 1995. Sometimes artists just think the same things are cool! :)

Did you ever dream you were something else? And did that influence your art? A quick pic from a dream, though I think the B&W original looks more like what I "was". I was more interested in capturing a feeling than in technical accuracy here... yes, errors abound. (BTW: this 'cat is snarling, not roaring; when roaring a big cat's lips are slack, and upper teeth usually do not show. Hey, did you know lots of big cat snarls/growls/roars used in movies are actually elephant, cougar, or lynx sound effects?)

Dustmeat, for Megan Giles! I love her prehistoric cats, and had been reading a great book with new theories on prehistoric big cat reconstruction (calling for a longer, more leonine face) so I drew Meg as such in 2002 - but with her tigress colors (I still love the "classic style" smilodons too, though). *sigh* SO many people I want/need to do gift art for, still... Pencil, parchment background, color in Photoshop 7.

Ebony... Tigress? The Kitty Queen! Ebony had talked about drawing domestic cats, so I drew her as a tiger-tabby, for fun. I wanted her to look a bit like the smiling, stylized cats you'd see on postcards, etc. years ago. Pencil on cardstock, Photoshop coloring.

Ebony Tigress! She's slightly anthro here, and is the exclusive property of Sheryn Brown - her big cats (and wolves and dragons and...) are simply gorgeous! Check her out here at the VCL! I gave Ebony a new pencil-box cuz someone stole her other one :::growls:::

Endgame: 11/2000, pencil. Art exchange with the wonderful and talented Amy Fennell of her anthro Snow Leopard character, Endgame (copyright A.F.!)

Arabian-Style Horse with Norwegian Fijord Markings: One of two commissions for Magnoona. I wasn't happy with the Arabian Oryx in the original version of this picture so it's not shown. Border inspired by Dover Books' wonderful Royalty-free publications. I scanned the border, Streamlined it, and fixed it up and colored it in Illustrator before dropping it into Photoshop.

PLEASE NOTE, horse experts: The horse is per description; it's not EXACTLY an Arabian (the commissioner did not want an extremely dished-profile head), and the markings are only based on those of the Fijords (this is a Spirit, after all). Still, I haven't drawn a "non-unicorn" equine in a long time, and this was a challenge; obviously, I need more practice, though! :D

Fire Tiger: pen, 1996. Red Pen + NIN = Strange Poses.

Still on a Japanese-influence kick after drawing the Bobtail for Starfallz, I tried my hand at one of my favorite creatures from Asian mythology. It's my own version; note I wasn't going for a strict interpretation. I used to draw in this stylized, heavy-line and thick-color manner a lot in the 80's. Prismas and Design colored pencils on Canson Paper (hence the texture, which pleases me).

Ebony and Budgie Bird! I bet most of you know Ebony Tigress, one of the sweetest tigresses online! (actually, I haven't yet met a tigress that wasn't sweet... ;D) Ebony's always doing pics of everyone else, and has done so many pics with Synn in them, that I wanted to do something in thanks, and here it is, Ebony in Flight with her Budgie Bird! It's funny... some things I would draw differently now, like the wings (I wasn't too concerned with making them realistic cuz they're "dream wings" , but still...), but as always I learned something while coloring it, and had fun, too.

Thanks for everything, Ebony!!!!!!! =:O)

Anthro-wolf male and raccoon-panther female: 1995, pen. Part of a "rush" commission for a story by Rafeki del Armes. BOY, this is old - it's an example of the way I drew "animal-people" back then. I worked from his descriptions as close as I could.

Fox Magic II: From 2003, the last of the three Asian-Inspired pieces I did for Starfallz. I used the other half of toned cardstock that I'd used for "SpiritFeatherPony". The original is much smoother-looking. The floating ball is something I've drawn for years (see syn-vision.jpg), and here it symbolizes that the creature is magical, more spirit than animal. I also purposely did NOT make it look like a realistic, 100% anatomically true-to-life fox, to reinforce the idea that the creature is more than it appears. Colored pencils, Photoshop7 touch-up.

Fury (Do Not Contest Me For I Will Destroy You): 1992, oil on canvas paper. This was just an exercise for a paint media class - I hadn't really painted in oils before this, and it shows! ;( Anyway, we were just supposed to blend background colors, but I got carried away... There is no "straight-from-the-tube" black paint in this pic; it's all dark blues and purples, tho' it's hard to tell from the scan.

Butterfly-Woman: 1993, pencil. Different (for me), and different is good practice, anyway. :)

This was for a commission; it was to be kept small and simple so it would print well at several different sizes, and on different types of surfaces (T-shirts, sports equipment, etc). Color, anatomy per request. Still don't like the eyes - they were better on an older version, but I had to go with what the commissioner wanted. I edited the name off.

Hairy B: 2000, pencil. Just a generic Hairy Beast.

Hmmmmmmm...: 1997, pencil. 8-1/2" x 11" original. Are his eyes open or closed...? I couldn't decide. He's that same white lion guy who appears elsewhere in my work.

"The Honored One" (jaguar). Pencil. I continued the theme of big-cat heads with him; his adornment is a mixture of Aztec, Olmec and Mayan influences, based on sculpture and artwork from those cultures.

His hat doesn't sit quite right on his head, though I stayed true to the depictions I'd seen. I wonder how the ancient Mesoamerican people made their hats stay on - glue? string? Whatever - the Mesoamerican people had some really beautiful and powerful art, which I think is often overlooked.

Jarraka! For the character at the Silver Throne RPG (no, not mine). My very first pine marten (need more practice, I know :/). I especially enjoyed drawing the branch... Pencils/Photoshop

Jasper! He's the creation of a very talented artist by the name of Anna Pieruccini - check out her stuff here & at Yerf! She has such a way with color, and did such an awesome pic of Synn for me that I tried to color my half of our trade, too... he's a wolf-guy - I hope I did him justice! He's done in a somewhat iconographic, formal "hieratic" (from the Greek word for "sacred") style, as is seen in Byzantine art. His costume is based off of the intricate one Anna did in her pic of Jasper (he's supposed to be black-furred but I'm still struggling with Photoshop 6).

Leopard-Man: May 1999, pen. I actually retain information better if I'm free to draw when I'm taking notes; here I was learning about web design and Java, thus I left the notes in. Never stop learning!

Not a gryphon - but a GREPHAUIN! (Uh, did I spell it wrong?) The inimitable Jyiis, squid-topped paintbrush in hand! Hopefully re-appearing soon in technicolor... property of the equally inimitable (and super-kind!) Melody Lu! I'll do a gryph soon, I promise! *steeling herself* "And I will never need umbrellas in the rain..." *trudges back to work*

Kareena, property of the FANTASTIC DemonDreamer here at the VCL (see her archive for a description of this awesome character). She's a brown-hyena-like creature with one glass eye and one real one, and I drew her as more human than my usual (thus, longer fingers & legs, etc.). She is supposed to be browner (less red) than I painted her. Thanks to Nat G. for her image-adjustment tips! Gouache on black illustration board, slightly smaller than 8-1/2" x 11".

DemonDreamer's Kareena: a detail of the mask, which was lots of fun to paint. Gouache on black illustration board.

Kibigami! My half of a second art trade with KitttyKat, AKA Katherine Barber, a fellow artist at the VCL. She drew Lorelei for me; I drew her boyfriend's character, Kibagami, in return. He is an anthro white tiger, with the green eyes and unusual striping per her description. The background is from a Dover book; the katakana sort of say "Ki-Ba-Ga-Mi" and "Ne-Ko" (yes, I am not good at Japanese! My apologies!). If I had the time, I'd go back and fix him up, and do a much more ornamented pattern on his outfit.

The very cool Kingugwa! A gnoll, but as a warrior of the god Tempus, he's better-groomed and more behaved than most. Per CitizenRob's description, he's strong but quick, and more human in proportions. A challenge for me - I haven't drawn many hyenas, and I tend to make them more animal-like than here. Two views, like in a "Gnoll's Guide to Anatomy" or something. I tried to make him modestly covered...

He was really supposed to be taller!!! - but when I think of hyenas I think of short hind legs and short, sturdy, sloping backs - and thus he ended up looking rather stubby! I'll have to re-draw him someday. Thanks for everything, CitizenRob!

KitttyKAT! I'd wanted to do Katherine Barber's character looking more feline, and I finally did. :D Her character is supposed to have pink shadows on her body - fun! Hey, any excuse to draw a feline is a good one... ;)